7_Driver - 7:27 pm on Feb 19, 2005 (gmt 0)

There are several people making a good living off our one site - so I'll see what I can do to help.

Does it take a huge, professionally created site?

Our site is pretty big now - several thousand pages. Many of them unique content that cannot be found elsewhere on the web. So content is really important.

Can one person working alone with minimal programming skills manage it?

That's not the way I've done it - (I was a programmer before getting into web sites) - but yes, one person and no programming skills is definitely possible. There are sites in my niche that have been done that way - and are doing very well indeed.

In some ways the tech skills are as much of a distraction as an advantage - many highly successful sites are technically very basic, and even quite poorly designed. It's the information they contain that's important, not how it looks, or works behind the scenes.

what kinds of site setups are most likely to pull in enough cash to live off of?

Something in a niche. Try to be a big fish in a small pond, not vice versa. Own a small niche. Loads of things could be profitable - if there are some affiliate programs available, and some adsense ads on related terms, then there's the chance to make money. Picking something you know and love will make life a lot easier. So will choosing something without too much competition.

The most important thing is to research and plan carefully and then STICK AT IT. You'll work like crazy for six months, and probably not make a cent. 99% of people probably give up at that point - which is just as well for those of us that don't. (I think it was more than a year before I got any income at all - though that was a few years ago - there was no AdSense then).

Don't put all your eggs in the AdSense basket though - we still make more with Affiliate programs - though the gap is closing.

My experience is it's the content that matters, not the domain name. Our domain is Ok - but I reckon I could make just as much with a useless one - to me, domain's are worth about $10. It's all about the content, not the domain, not the programming, not the design, the content.